me drifting... what do you think?

[malcolm]

(good suspension) makes the learning process 100x easier.

I believe it's far better to get out and practice with a stock vehicle, so when you upgrade to a better suspension, you can learn the differences, and then learn how to adapt to a new car. It's not so much learning how to drive/drift that is the issue, it is adapting that people need to learn. Starting with a crap car (ie. totally stock), and then slowly building it up, the owner gets to experience each change, and adapt to it, thus becoming a much better driver. Also, it will isolate a lot of variables, and teach the driver what each modification does, and how it affects the car. They will find that bigger sway bars will reduce roll, and therefore require them to rock the car faster when trying to feint, etc, etc. If someone puts full coilovers, with aftermarket sway bars, strut tower braces, better brakes, better tires, etc, then they'll be so deep into it that they'll never be able to understand how everything works together, let alone how to tune it properly.

Sure, he may be able to drift better out of the box if he drops a few thousand dollars into his suspension, but he'll have a hell of a time trying to figure out how to improve the set-up of the car, and he won't have the experience of having to adapt to a seemingly new car.

[Coiloverkid]

everyone knows I'm better than everyone else on this board, so there.

[Fransisco]

Originally posted by malcolm
I believe it's far better to get out and practice with a stock vehicle, so when you upgrade to a better suspension, you can learn the differences, and then learn how to adapt to a new car. It's not so much learning how to drive/drift that is the issue, it is adapting that people need to learn. Starting with a crap car (ie. totally stock), and then slowly building it up, the owner gets to experience each change, and adapt to it, thus becoming a much better driver. Also, it will isolate a lot of variables, and teach the driver what each modification does, and how it affects the car. They will find that bigger sway bars will reduce roll, and therefore require them to rock the car faster when trying to feint, etc, etc. If someone puts full coilovers, with aftermarket sway bars, strut tower braces, better brakes, better tires, etc, then they'll be so deep into it that they'll never be able to understand how everything works together, let alone how to tune it properly.

Sure, he may be able to drift better out of the box if he drops a few thousand dollars into his suspension, but he'll have a hell of a time trying to figure out how to improve the set-up of the car, and he won't have the experience of having to adapt to a seemingly new car.

The object here is just to minimize the risk, drifting is a bit different than racing, even the track can be dangerous place to practice. on our first official drift day an s14 drifting on a left hand sweeper, the car suddenly snap to the right hitting the wall then rolled. On our second drift day a trueno rolled after bouncing of the ripple strip. both drivers have racing experienced.

the s14 had a set of coilovers installed and the trueno was a racecar i think it was setup for rallying as the suspension was as high as stock.. maybe it was stock.

and we were using one of the best(safest) track in the country (NZ), to begin drifting. I can confidently say that if the s14 had a decent LSD the driver had a better chance recovering after his drift. and the trueno would have not rolled if it was much lower.

as the organiser of the day I founded this really annoying, people that came with stock cars, always spinning out getting in other drivers way and tearing up the grass, when other drivers who setup their cars improved after every meet.

I'm sure he would have a good time setting up the car, if the enviroment is safe enough go for it.

[Rteam123]

Originally posted by Coiloverkid
everyone knows I'm better than everyone else on this board, so there.

listen to the man, hes right, we need to all pack our bags and head home with are tails between our legs.......

[malcolm]

on our first official drift day an s14 drifting on a left hand sweeper......

there's your first problem... why on earth are people drifting on SWEEPERS on their first drift day?

Sure, there will be accidents; that's part of the game. However, you just showed that even people with tuned suspension can have accidents. Tuned suspension will not make anything safer, it will just make your limits higher. Therefore you will be able to push harder and go faster, which would actually be MORE dangerous.

Stock vehicles can be unpredictable to the inexperienced driver, but that doesn't make them dangerous. The driver just needs to understand what the car will do and how it reacts to each input.

[Drifterlunchb0x]

I applaud the guy!!!!

I believe it's far better to get out and practice with a stock vehicle, so when you upgrade to a better suspension, you can learn the differences, and then learn how to adapt to a new car. It's not so much learning how to drive/drift that is the issue, it is adapting that people need to learn. Starting with a crap car (ie. totally stock), and then slowly building it up, the owner gets to experience each change, and adapt to it, thus becoming a much better driver. Also, it will isolate a lot of variables, and teach the driver what each modification does, and how it affects the car. They will find that bigger sway bars will reduce roll, and therefore require them to rock the car faster when trying to feint, etc, etc. If someone puts full coilovers, with aftermarket sway bars, strut tower braces, better brakes, better tires, etc, then they'll be so deep into it that they'll never be able to understand how everything works together, let alone how to tune it properly.

I agree to an extent...after my experiences of building my car so quickly...i wasnt able to fully learn the car and as i was we would than throw an entire new component on the car. I belive ppl should start out with at least some suspension components such as strut/sway bars and at least some stiff springs, because at least having those elements and just learning the car ina grip way makes drifting that much easier. I have pretty much a fully built suspension and its a looooooooot easier to initiate and sustain a drift for long lengths and times. Its all about the predictability of your car, once you know how it acts and reacts..its predictable wich is what you want.


and kid keep up the good work just becareful when and where you do it. id hate to hear or see any of us fellow drifters hitting others and putting others lives in danger.

[doriFC]

as for the positive comments... thanks guys
all the rest, i dont have much money right now... i just bought the car and im planning on suspension changes very soon.. as soon as i have the money...
id love to see any of you come out to this little corner and try to do better... you cant see the whole corner so you dont really know exactly how it is.
the point is... do with what you got.

[Fransisco]

Originally posted by malcolm

Sure, there will be accidents; that's part of the game. However, you just showed that even people with tuned suspension can have accidents. Tuned suspension will not make anything safer, it will just make your limits higher. Therefore you will be able to push harder and go faster, which would actually be MORE dangerous.
[/B]

thats a fair comment.. the faster you go the more dangerous it is, but your entire comment is kinda twisting the fact.
I can put it down like this

Drifting at 40mph which is safer? tuned or stock?
Drifting at 80mph which is safer? tuned or stock?

the limits can be easily reduced with the way you setup your car, eg using crappy tires, suspension setup for drift.. as you get better you start using grippier tyre and set your suspension up for grip.

at least the car will be more predictable, and there is only so much you can learn from driving the car stock. lesson #1 yup too much body roll..

[malcolm]

hmmm... ok.. MAYBE get a strut brace and an LSD. that's my final offer.

(but leave the suspension alone)

[Carl]

I must say that starting to drift in a car that isnt the bst drifter hlped me become a better difter. I started in an MR2 turbo, boy it was hard, very hard infact, but when I got use to it and bought my S13 i found it very easy to control. THe reason it was very easy was because i had developed my reactions on the MR2.
my S13 had stock suspension when i first started, it was great fun. I have strong views about newbie drifters that spend loads of money on their drift car before drifting it. Its stupid and ive seen more than 1 person give up and sell the car because the cant handle it properly.

Ignore the people that are too harsh on you. everyone started somehere and i doubt many if the japanese drifters started with a perfectly setup drift car when they began. Most of them had standard 86's and old datsuns.

[Drifterlunchb0x]

not going to agree with your last statement about starting with cars that you deem not good drift cars LOL ...but its not a matter of learning the car stock or fully modded...its a matter of just learning the car. nuff said. jsut learn your car thats it...its simple...end the discussion on whats better learning on stock or modded...lets keep it simple just learn your bloody car and learn how its predictable.

[doriFC]

true that

[scse12977]

doode i give you props for gettin gout there and practice/having fun. i do beleive that a good number of people on this board want to be cool and drift and therefore act like asses.

Just keep at it. I start up there in the bay area and now down in LA im considered crazy cuz of my style and calmness about not having guardrails. (Mt. Hamilton has maybe 3 in its 350+ turns. dont drift it, and i advise against running it too hard. the road is crap but its alot of fun and way cool. just watch out for the cop that lives at the top.)

You got a good car to start/learn with. Ignore the people who bash you, they be jelous. Just keep having fun.

Drift what you brought.

[doriFC]

fo sho i know where ur talkin about... i dont go there.
cops are sketchy... where are you from scse12977? sounds like you used to live in my area

[TeamKai]

I was reading this thread and I felt the need to make a user name and give my thoughts. So, first off.... way to go to the drifter that this thread is actually about. I admire anyone who actually has a car and does drift it. It takes a lot of guts to go out there on the streets where anything can happen. But, to those of you without cars, I think you should be able to say whatever you want. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions even if some of us think they are stupid. The mindless arguing that ensues after that I could do without though. Oh well!

Right, so... what am I talking about again. Oh yeah, drifting. I come from a board that is really tough on newbies... man are they tough so, from what I've seen here, you guys are getting it easy. I plan to stick around and learn somethings from you guys because I too have my own drift car plans.

Ok, well that's good enough for an introduction to me... right~!

(~TeamKai~)